Riding saddles



N0V 22, 1966 J. A. WALKER ETAL 3,286,440

RIDING SADDLES Filed March 25, 1965 Flcl.

JACKSON ARATRlB WILLIAM KWALKER maw/,Mlm

United States Patent O 3,286,440 RIDING SADDLES James` A. Walker, Jackson A. Ratrie, and William K. Walker, all of Joplin, M0., assignors to Parlay Leather Company, Joplin, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Filed Mar. 23, 1965, Ser. No. 442,121 Claims. (Cl. 54-44) This invention relates generally to riding saddles and more particularly to a new and improved riding saddle construction.

Two important criteria which determine the overall structure of a riding saddle are rigidity and Weight. In the construction olf a riding saddle, to provide the desired rigidity, i-t has become the accepted practice to fabricate the riding saddle around a rigid saddle tree of metal, bone or wood. While such structures provide the desirable rigidity, they suffer from the disadvantage that they add undesirable weight to the overall unit.

This and other disadvantages of the prior art are overcome in the present invention which avoids the use of a rigid saddle tree fabricated of metal, -bone or wood and provides an overall unit which is lighter in Weight and more compact than presently available riding saddles. By virtue of the simplicity in the method of construction of the riding `saddle embodied in the present invention, a substantial reduction in production costs is also effected.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved, light-Weight, compact and easy riding saddle.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method of construction of :riding saddles which, by virtue of it-s simplicity, affords a substantial reduction in cost.

To this end, there is provided a laminated saddle unit fabricated of preformed leather portions and having a light-Weight plastic treated fabric laminated to the underside of the main body portion and which is permanently set to provide an upwardly concave longitudinal curvature.

In the construction of the saddle itself, the leather portions are shaped to follow the contour of the back of a horse. A V-shaped spring steel band is riveted to the underside of the main body portion of the saddle, with the V pointing toward the front of the saddle so as to maintain a transverse curvature to the main body portion of the saddle. The steel band gives spring and strength to the front end and also provides means for attaching the stirrup hangers. A girth band is secured adjacent the steel band and the plastic treated fabric is secured *to the underside of the main body portion. The underside of the saddle unit is completed by a resilient padding which is secured over the laminated leather and plastic treated fabric and a light leather such as pigskin stitched to the entire underside, While a top piece is centrally disposed over the main body portion to complete the overall unit. The entire unit is then sewn or stitched to form a single unit.

Although only one specic form of the invention is described and illustratedin the accompanying drawings, it is to be expressly understood that these drawings are for the punpose of illustration only and it is not intended to represent the full scope of the invention which is defined by the appended claims.

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters represent like parts throughout the several views:

FIG. l is a side perspective view of the riding saddle;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective View illustrating the arrangement of the individual portions of the riding saddle; and

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal cross section view of the riding saddle.

Y strength to the front end of the saddle.

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Referring to FIG. 1, the general reference numeral 10 represents a saddle unit embodying the present invention which is shaped to the contour of the back of a Ihorse. In the construction illustrated, the saddle comprises a main leather body portion 11 having knee flaps 12 and 13 and a narrower portion 14 toward the rear. A girth band 15 is secured to the underside of the saddle 10 for aflixing the saddle to a horse in a conventional manner. A leather top piece 16 forms the seat of the saddle and is glued to the main body portion 11 generally within the area of stitching 17. The front of top piece 16 is further held in place by rivets 18 and 19. The rear of top piece 16 conforms in shape to the rear of the main body portion 11, while the front of the top piece is provided with flaps 20 and 21 of reduced dimensions in comparison to those of the main body portion. Advantasgeously, flaps 20 and 21 ex-tend downwardly enough to cover the stirrup hangers of the saddle supported beneath the flaps in a manner to be hereinafter described.

Referring to FIG. 2, the method of construction of the riding saddle embodying the present invention is illustrated in greater detail. The front end of the main body portion 11 has attached to the underside thereof a V-shaped spring steel fork 22 which is placed transversely and riveted to the aps 12 and 13 at 23 and 24. Opposite ends of the V-shaped fork 22 -are pre-drilled as lat 25 and 26 to facilitate attachment. The V-shaped spring steel zfork 2.2 is disposed with the V pointing toward the front of the saddle to maintain the necessary transverse curvature to the main body portion 11 and to also give spring and Also, steel fork 22 serves to support a pair of stirrup hangers 27 and 28 to which are attached the stirrups (not shown).

The stirrup hangers 27 and 28 may be conveniently fabricated from a metal rod Iand are formed in a substantially square shaped closed loop having Va right angle extension 29 and 30, respectively. The extension of each hanger is affixed to a strap member and is `adapted to pass through a corresponding slit 31, 32 located in flaps 12 and 13. The strap member is riveted in place to the spring steel fork 22. The sti-rrups may then be secured to the square shaped hangers in a conventional manner.

A girth strap 15 is secured to the underside of the main body portion 11. Any suitable girth strap may be utilized. Advantageously, the girth strap 15 consists of a nylon web 40 to which is secured at each end a leather strap 41 and 42. The nylon web 40 is sewn to the main body portion 11 so that the straps hang downwardly along the inside of the aps 12 and 13.

To maintain the necessary upward curvature at the front and rear of the saddle, there is secured to the underside of the main body portion 11 a light-weight stiffening member 33 which advantageously is a plastic impregnated fabric. The plastic impregnated fabric is molded wet to the underside of the main body portion and over the girth band 15 and fork 22 an-d allowed to dry. Upon drying, the plastic impregnated fabric forms a hard, continuous lm and assumes a permanent set providing the necessary longitudinal curvature to the saddle.

One such material which may be used to provide the stiffening is available under the trade name of Celastic, Collioid Treated Fabric, a product of the American Cyanamid Company. Such materials are available in sheet form and are soft, light weight and porous. On application of a solvent for activating the colloid treated fabric, the plastic impregnated lfabric coalesces and on evaporation of the softener forms a hard, continuous lm. Activation of the colloid treated fabric also causes the stiffener 33 to be adhered or laminated to the underside of the main body portion 11; however, for added strength it may be sewn in place.

The shape of the stifener 33 is similar to that of top piece 16, but the overall dimensions of the rear portion 34 are slightly smaller than the rear portion 34 of top piece 16, and the side aps are cut-away as 35 so that the ends are positioned above the stirrup hangers 27 and 28, as more clearly shown in FIG. 3.

A foam rubber pad 36 having a shape similar to that of body portion 11 is adhesively secured over the stiffener 33 and to the exposed underside portions of the main -body portion 11 by any suitable adhesive and the underside of the saddle is completed by a light leather lining 37, such as pigskin. The pigskin liner 37 is stitched to the entire underside of the saddle along its outer edge as at 38 and along its longitudinal center as at 39 to further secure the stiffener 33 and rfoam rubber pad 36 between the main body portion 11 and liner 37 and cform an integral, laminated unit.

Referring to FIG. 3, the compact, light-weight saddle structure is shown in cross-section which effectively illustrates the laminated structure comprising, from the top down, top piece 16, main body portion 11, stiffener 33, foam rubber pad 36 and pigskin liner 37.

While one particular embodiment of the invention has been described, it will be apparent to those familiar with the art that the inventive concept is capable of a variety of modications and it is therefore intended by the appended claims to cover all of such modifications which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. y

What is claimed is:

1. A riding saddle comprising a main body portion, a V-shaped spring steel fork secured to the front underside of said main body portion and maintaining a transverse curvature to the body portion, said main body portion having a pair of flaps at its cfront end, a slit in each of said aps, a stirrup hanger disposed adjacent each of said slits and having a portion extending through the adjacent slit and around said spring steel fork, a girth band secured -to the underside of said main body portion adjacent said spring steel fork, a plastic impregnated fabric stitfener adapted to be molded wet to the underside of the main body portion and over said girth band and said fo-rk and, upon drying, to be laminated to the underside of said main body portion and assume a permanent set for maintaining an upwardly concave longitudinal curvature to the saddle, a foam rubber pad secured to the underside of said plastic stitener and main body portion and a leather liner secured to the underside of sai-d foam rubber pad.

2. A riding saddle comprising a main body portion, a V-shaped spring steel fork secured to the front underside of said body portion and maintaining a transverse curvature to said body portion, a plastic impregnated fabric adapted to be molded wet to the underside of the main body portion and, upon drying, to assume a permanent set so as to be laminated to the underside of said main body portion, said plastic impregnated fabric providing an upwardly concave longitudinal curvature to the saddle and a liner overlining the underside of said plastic impregnated fabric and main body portion, said liner, plastic impregnated fabric and main body portion being secured to each other.

3. A riding saddle shaped to follow the contour of the back of a horse comprising a main body portion, a

V-shaped spring steel fork secured to the front underside of said main body portion for maintaining a transverse curvature to the body portion, said main body portion having a pair of aps at its front end, a slit in each of said flaps, a stirrup hanger disposed a-djacent each of said slits and having a portion extending through the adjacent slit and around said spring steel fork, a girth strap secured to the underside of said main body portion adjacent said spring steel fork, a plastic impregnated fabric adapted to be molded wet and, upon drying, laminated to the underside of said main body portion and overlying said spring steel fork and girth strap for maintaining an upwardly concave longitudinal curvature to the saddle, a foam rubber liner overlying the underside of said plastic impregnated fabric and secured thereto and to the aps of said main body portion, and a leather liner secu-red to the underside olf said foam rubber pad, said foam rubber pad, plastic impregnated fabric, main body portion and leather liner being secured to each other.

4. A laminated saddle unit shaped to follow the contour of a back of a horse comprising a main body portion having downwardly extending flaps at the front end thereof and a narrow portion at the 4rear thereof, a seat adhesively secured to the top of said main body portion, said seat having a rear portion coextensive with said narrower portion and aps extending partially over the aps of said main body portion, a plastic impregnated fabric adapted to be molded wet and, upon drying, laminated to the underside of the main body portion, a foam rubber pad and a leather liner each having downwardly extending aps and a narrower portion at the rear ends thereof, said :foam rubber pad having its narrower portion secured to the underside of said plastic impregnated fabric :and its flaps to the underside of the aps of said main body portion, said leather liner being secured to the underside of said foam rubber pad, a girth strap secured to the underside of said main -body portion and having its ends extending from between aps of said main body portion and foam rubber pad, and a spring steel fork adjacent said girth strap and secured to the underside of said main body portion for supporting a pair olf stirrup holders.

5. A laminated saddle unit as set forth in claim 4 wherein each of the flaps of said main body portion are provided with a slit and further including a stirrup holder adjacent each slit, said stirrup holder having a portion extending through the adjacent slit and .around said spring steel fork.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,112,592 12/1963 Schindler 54-44 FOREIGN PATENTS 184,068 8/ 1922 Great Britain. 226,292 12/ 1924 Great Britain. 625,934 7/ 1949 Great Britain.

SAMUEL KOREN, Primary Examiner.

HUGH R. CHAMBLEE, Examiner. 

2. A RIDING SADDLE COMPRISING A MAIN BODY PORTION, A V-SHAPED SPRING STEEL FORK SECURED TO THE FRONT UNDERSIDE OF SAID BODY PORTION AND MAINTAINING A TRANSVERSE CURVATURE TO SAID BODY PORTION, A PLASTIC IMPREGNATED FABRIC ADAPTED TO BE MOLDED WET TO THE UNDERSIDE OF THE MAIN BODY PORTION AND, UPON DRYING, TO ASSUME A PERMANENT SET SO AS TO BE LAMINATED TO THE UNDERSIDE OF SAID MAIN BODY PORTION, SAID PLASTIC IMPREGNATED FABRIC PROVIDING AN UPWARDLY CONCAVE LONGITUDINAL CURVATURE TO THE SADDLE AND A LINER OVERLINING THE UNDERSIDE OF SAID PLASTIC IMPREGNATED FABRIC AND MAIN BODY PORTION, SAID LINER, PLASTIC IMPREGNATED FABRIC AND MAIN BODY PORTION BEING SECURED TO EACH OTHER. 